Love this editorial 'The Everlasting Soul' by the very talented Solve Sundsbo for Vogue China Collections S/S 2011 featuring Edita Vilkeviciute and styled by Nicoletta Santoro. What caught my eye from this shoot was the wonderful wispy 'ink-in-water' colours embracing the model and enhancing the visual impact. I also like the wind effect and the camera straight on poses; very dominating which catches the viewers full attention. Beautiful Work.

For my previous Graphic Design project I explored typography and felt like creating a bold colourful poster. I usually use my own photographs and mix typography within the image but this time wanted to focus solely on the type and message more. I was browsing the internet and kept seeing everyone praising Helvetica and wearing t-shirts, making movie documentaries etc and wanted to give the other typefaces the limelight! (hehe)

I think Helvetica is a great font and has revolutionized graphic design, typography and the way we read in public places. As I don't have this typeface I thought I'd show my appreciation to two of my favourite fonts, Bebas Neue (from Dafont.com) and Georgia (a free font with Microsoft and a web standard font). I constantly use these fonts and think they're great and simple.

For these edits I wanted to jazz it up and create an almost 3D effect when you look at it. I also added a small textured border to draw you into the font. Hope you like it! Just random fun editing on Photoshop CS2 :D

Check out this new(ish) video of Ukranian boy group, Kazaky. Already with almost 1,200,000 hits on Youtube in 1 month; this video has gone viral in the art/fashion/music world. There certainly is a niche in the industry for these guys! Watch the video here!:

I found out about this in February from Ali's Blog and was blown away by the music video directed by the talented Yevgeniy Timokhin. Kazaky are made up of Oleg, Arthur, Stas and Cyril and aren't your typical 'boy band'. I think popular culture and the music industry is ready for 'alternative pop' with a twist.

I particularly love how they dance so effortlessly in heels and manage to pull off (I believe are Gareth Pugh designs as he is mentioned in the lyrics) with style and look masculinely glamorous (which is a hard thing to do!) Their dancing is amazing as it's so fluid with grace and attitude forgetting the fact that they're dancing in high heels.

At the beginning I like how the dance with black scarves and how the video cuts to symmetry. Then in the break section with the organ sounds I like how they rotate (as if they were ballerinas in music boxes) with a single light source highlighting their bold physique. At 2.02 I like the macro shot of the eye and how it rolls up staring at the viewer for a second. Then they start dancing with (garlic shaped head pieces) with a white background so you can see the lovely heels.

I must admit I wasn't too keen on the actual song itself, it was too simple and didn't involve a lot on singing ability however as the music industry becomes more digitalized and more obsessed with image, Kazaky certainly know how to wow audiences with their looks and dancing. This song does slowly grow on you after a long while.

The video is rather surreal and I love the lighting effects and how its all shot in monochrome which emphasizes the drama. I particularly like how the concept of this video addresses that men can dress up feminine and still look masculine. There is a lot of stigma against men who do without being 'drag queens' or transvestites. Females can dress in a boyish manner with low-cut baggy jeans and trainers and still look feminine yet this isn't labelled as 'transvestite'. I think everyone should be able to embrace the opposite gender's traits once in a while; it shows you're very comfortable in your own skin!

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

N.B I've just realized my facts have been mistaken in this post so I've changed it as of 09/03/11!

Watch Lady Gaga's Born This Way video here! :)

So after watching Lady Gaga's new video for the quickest iTunes downloaded song and 1000th number-one song on the US Hot 100 charts, Born This Way; I had to blog about about how bizarre, creepy and captivating this conceptual video is.

The song and video is written by Lady Gaga, directed by legendary fashion photographer Nick Knight (must do a feature on him!), produced by Vincent Herbert, choreographed by Laurie Ann Gibson and features Thierry Mugler's skull concept from his A/W 11 collection which shows the monster credits attached to this video. (see his fashion concept film featuring Lady Gaga Remix here) The new creative director of Mugler has been appointed the fabulous Nicola Formichetti.

As an avid fan on Gaga's work I must say I wasn't blown away by this song or video unlike her ground-breaking Paparazzi and Bad Romance music/mini-film videos. When I first watched this I kept thinking of the film Aliens where creepy-acid-pumping-sharp-teethed creatures where going to burst out of Lady Gaga's chest which wasn't a pleasant thought.

The opening scene is of a unicorn and vibrant rainbow lights (which I have also noticed in Ke$ha Blow music video!) where the viewer is instantly transported to a world of sci-fi wonder. The viewer is then lead to believe they are seeing Gaga's face (which reminds me of Bowie especially with the neon pink triangular strobe lights around it) until you realize it's painted on. The eyeball on Gaga's chin is creepy but her make-up and hair is remarkable (bravo hair/MUA!). Her introductory speech telling the story of this video is creepy and slightly melodramatic however without this the viewer would feel very confused without a narrative. Though I do like the dramatic classical music accompanying the monologue. Some scenes remind me of Hindu art with the lotus flowers referring to Lakshmi, the Godess of fertility (amongst other things). Also the kaleidoscope effect where it gives the illusion of giving birth and hands in 'intimate' places is an interesting and colourful use of manipulating video and perception which I like (though is still very creepy!). I have noticed how her legs are 'spread eagled' for a remarkable amount of time in this video which shows Gaga's persistent sexual nature in her videos.

She then shoots her machine gun after her waving her voluminous blonde hair around, possibly making reference to her Alejandro video or just because she likes machine guns! After her 2.30 minute introduction we can finally listen to the song! I must say her body is very sexy and wonderfully toned and even her weird horned removable cheek implants doesn't defer her sex appeal.

My favourite part of the video is when we see Mugler's 'skull' model (also seen in his fashion film here) as I love this look. Considered as Formichetti's muse, Rick Genest is known as 'Zombie Boy'. I've just realized he is in fact permanently tattooed all over and that it isn't make up art! No wonder he's Nicola muse! I love how they are both dressed in tuxedo's and how she dances around him whilst he remains standing firm. The sinister cryptic look in his eyes (enhanced by extraordinary make up) is captivating.

At the end she makes reference to Michael Jackson's The Way you Make me Feel where she highlights the iconic white glove and his denim shirt he wore in the video. I'm not too sure what this means in relation to 'Born this Way' (please comment if you do!).

Though this music video has been somewhat disappointing in it's ability to fully captivate and inspire me I do love the creativity, overall bizarre factor and Gaga's crazy ways. I believe she focused too much on its concept about birth and forgot about letting go and being 'who you are' such as the lyric '"there's nothin wrong with lovin who you are"'. Nevertheless Gaga's continues to enthral me and revolutionize what a music video is and can be. Love you Gaga!

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All content belongs to Nisha Haq 2010-11 including photographs and cannot be used without permission unless stated otherwise from external sources. Please ask permission

if you wish to use content from my blog (including Nisha Haq Photography (& Design)) photographs (email: nish.nash@sky.com). Please note I have tried to source all the content I use and do no intend to infringe on other peoples' copyright or steal from others. I apologies if I do. If you wish to re-blog my work please credit and source this blog. Thank You. M.A.S.H